THEFUTURERAILWAY | THE INDUSTRY’S RAIL TECHNICAL STRATEGY 2012
PEOPLE
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VISION
Skilled, committed and adaptable people delivering an efficient and customer-focused railway
OBJECTIVES
A culture of continuous improvement, effectiveness and customer service
Excellent leadership and a workforce supporting all aspects of the railway
A reliable supply chain for high-quality skills provision
STRATEGY
Assess the skills requirements for the future railway
Adopt a common standard for effective collaboration between organisations
Improve learning methods to maximise benefits from new technology
Design technology and roles with people in mind
Automate repetitive and arduous tasks
ENABLERS
Skills forecasting
Partnerships with education providers
Employee skills passport
National competencies database
Decision-support tools
THEFUTURERAILWAY | THE INDUSTRY’S RAIL TECHNICAL STRATEGY 2012
PEOPLE
3.44 People are key drivers as well as enablers in business. As the pace of
technological and technical changes accelerates, people working in the
rail industry must be equipped with the necessary skills to cope with
the new technologies and techniques. With a whole-system approach,
people need to understand and adapt to new working practices.
3.45 International competition and uncertainty about demand is risking
the availability of suitably skilled people for the industry, although not
all the required skills are railway-specific. Sometimes availability is
low and costs are artificially high because technical and professional
competence is not recognised without railway experience or
qualifications.
3.46 Work carried out by NSARE30 suggests that a major gap in engineering
skills is likely to develop unless remedial action is undertaken. It
identified that only 17% of the engineering workforce has qualifications
at higher academic levels (above ‘A’ level).
VISION
3.47 Lifelong learning is an expectation within the industry, with learning
and competence seen as part of a continual professional development
(CPD) continuum from novice to expert.
3.48 Learning programmes take full account of the implications of
technological transitions and training prepares staff for technologydriven changes. Virtual learning environments and simulations are used
to rehearse responses to both routine work and unplanned situations.
3.49 Strategic relationships with other sectors include learning from
industries that have made radical technological transitions to
understand the skills that are required and minimise the risk in adopting
new skill sets. Railway companies have confidence in the supply chain
to provide qualified additional or specialist resources.
3.50 Leaders drive the industry towards achieving the 4Cs and facilitate
the technological changes. There is a shared vision of customer focus
across the industry and a common desire to optimise performance.
Rail is the employer of choice and knowledge is transferred with people
from other sectors into the rail industry.
OBJECTIVES
3.51 The culture and leadership style inspires staff to strive for continuous
improvement in all aspects of the railway’s business. This is
demonstrated by efficiency, effectiveness, quality and value in all
operations and a palpable ethos of customer service.
NSARE is the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, a key facilitator for matching specialised training requirements for rail employees with appropriate
providers
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COMMON FOUNDATIONS - PEOPLE
3.52 The future railway is likely to be technologically complex, more
automated and managed by fewer but highly skilled people. A
coordinated long-term view of the required skills, competencies and
potential has identified skill sets and defined roles. These skill sets
enhance mobility of personnel and career development and present
opportunities to fine-tune skill mixes across the industry.
3.53 A reliable supply chain secures a consistently high-quality level of
expertise for the industry.
STRATEGY
3.54 The operation, maintenance and development of a more technically
advanced railway will require a suitably adapted management style. A
systematic approach to career development, adopted by companies
across the industry, would equip the Class of 2020 with the technical
and leadership skills to run the railway in 2030 and beyond. These
skills need to include an appreciation of cross-organisational business
requirements and how to practise a whole-system approach.
3.55 Realising the potential of new technologies, adapting to the pace of
change and the expectation of longer working lifetimes will require
appropriate staff training. The industry will need to pay attention to
the core skills of potential employees, engage with those who set the
curriculum and teach in schools, colleges and universities and influence
them to develop the skill sets that meet the needs of the industry.
3.56 Coherent standards for collaboration would lead to more effective
cooperation between organisations to improve operational and
business performance. Benefits of cooperation would include:
•
•
•
•
An established common language and consistent approach
Improved risk management
Clear paths for continued improvement
If certification were introduced, a mutual understanding of an
organisation’s base capability
3.57 Skills to handle an increasingly rich data environment and to manage
the real-world environment efficiently will require appropriate training
methods. Improved methods could include virtual reality and
simulation, role play and improved on-the-job training.
3.58 Design and introduction of new technology should take careful account
of the people who will use it and match the planned level of human
engagement. The effect of this interface on success is often underappreciated, with detrimental business consequences. Understanding
the people dimension is fundamental to planning new schemes.
3.59 New technologies in the industry will alter the workplace and
automation could take over repetitive and arduous tasks. The railway
has the opportunity to use these techniques and technologies to create
an attractive work environment that makes it the employment sector of
choice.
THEFUTURERAILWAY | THE INDUSTRY’S RAIL TECHNICAL STRATEGY 2012
ENABLERS
3.60 Forecasts of the skills the railway will need in the future and analysis of
any gaps in skills is essential to direct the planning effort. A continual
process of resource planning and preparation is necessary to develop
people with the appropriate range of skills to meet future requirements.
3.61 Workforce education, training and CPD will be enabled through:
• Widening the scope of NSARE beyond engineering, working
across the industry and in partnership with independent education
providers
• Development of continuous learning programmes
3.62 NSARE is also involved in developing tools designed to increase the
flexibility of railway staff to work across the industry. These include:
• Skills passports showing portable competencies to support
academic and professional qualifications
• A national database of competencies in core areas such as
engineering
3.63 These educational initiatives could also improve the industry’s retention
of corporate memory and guard against skills fade.
3.64 New technology will bring increased amounts of data, information and
intelligence which require enhanced interpretation skills for decisionmaking. The workforce will also be assisted by the introduction of a
new generation of decision support tools, including timetabling and
maintenance schedule planning.
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COMMON FOUNDATIONS - PEOPLE
PRE 2010
RTS
PEOPLE
2011 - 2020
2021 - 2030
2031 - 2040
VISION
CP 4
CP 5
CP 6
CP 7
CP 8
CP 9
Management
Management styles for more technically advanced railway
Identify skills categories implied by future railway use/employment of technology
Career
Development
Systematic approach to career development
Encourage personal development by making it easier for people to move within the industry
ASSESS THE SKILLS
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
FUTURE RAILWAY
Promote Graduate engineering careers in railway engineering
Prevent skill fade by developing corporate memory capability
Manpower
Planning
Long term skills and resource planning & forecasting across the industry
Partnerships with education providers
NSARE
NSARE established
Continue development (Evolution) of National Skills Academy for Railway Engineers (NSARE)
Implement National Competencies database
Skills passports: recognising and exporting capability
ADOPT A COMMON
STANDARD
FOR EFFECTIVE
COLLABORATION
BETWEEN
ORGANISATIONS
Skilled, commited
and adaptable
people delivering
an efficient and
customer-focused
railway
Collaboration
Develop coherent standards for collaboration (Human Resources)
Culture
Cross rail sector adoption of BS11000 principles and practices
Decision
making
IMPROVE LEARNING
METHODS TO MAXIMISE
BENEFITS FROM NEW
TECHNOLOGY
Improve resilience of rail operations through improved decision making
Understand the range and type of decisions that need to be made to sustain future railway operations
Create virtual and simulation (‘safe’) environments to practice decision making skills and understand consequences
Decision Support tools and aides
Industry Delivery Activity
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
AND ROLES WITH PEOPLE
IN MIND
Human
Factors
Industry Development Activity
Develop Human Factor Engineering discipline across the industry
TSLG Completed activity
TSLG In progress
Intellige
Automation
AUTOMATE REPETITIVE
AND ARDUOUS TASKS
Use innovation to propose future automation
Examine potential future technologies that are able to automate rail activities
TSLG Planned
TSLG Potential
All dates and durations should be
regarded as indicative